The Weekly Spotlight
Emails, Friendships, and Spooky Events
The Outbound Trail—
During the third week of the sales module, we delved deeper into the art of sales, with a particular focus on understanding the distinctions between inbound and outbound sales. The concept of inbound sales involves the prospect taking the lead, initiating the sales process, and discovering the business. In contrast, outbound sales involve the proactive engagement of a salesperson who takes the initial steps to reach out to potential clients.
Though inbound sales have their importance, our primary focus has been on outbound sales. Outbound sales follow a structured sales sequence, beginning with the prospecting and outreach stages. In the previous week, we began with the prospecting phase, during which we generated a list of promising leads for future interactions. This week, our focus shifted to outreach, where our goal is to proactively establish connections and cultivate a deeper understanding of our prospects' specific needs and interests.
We explored a series of articles that covered the intricacies of outbound sales and the organization of a sales outreach campaign. Following our study of these articles, we developed a structured sales sequence outline, which you can find here! Using this outline as our guide, we crafted a 21-day sales campaign comprising a variety of communication methods, including emails, LinkedIn messages, phone calls, and SMS text messages - all tailored for potential leads. You can review the details of this campaign here!
Living Lessons—
This week, we continued our journey through Dale Carnegie's "How To Win Friends & Influence People."
I'll be honest here; I haven't had the opportunity to fully immerse myself in this book just yet. However, from the pages I've managed to read so far, I've already gained valuable insights and applied several of its principles to my life.
This past week, I put into practice principle #2: Give Honest and Sincere Appreciation. Carnegie elaborates on this principle on page 34, stating, "Try leaving a friendly trail of little sparks of gratitude on your daily trips. You will be surprised how they will set small flames of friendship that will be rose beacons on your next visit" (pg. 34). This idea deeply resonated with me, and I decided to try and incorporate it into my daily interactions throughout the week.
To provide some context, at my workplace, we begin each day with a morning huddle. These gatherings involve updates, devotionals, and interactive group discussions, and always conclude with a prayer. This past Thursday, our discussion revolved around the topic of "What have you done to make someone's day better?"
Inspired by this discussion and my recent reading of principle #2, I reached out to one of my coworkers to express my appreciation. The idea didn't strike me until I had returned to my desk, prompting me to use Microsoft Teams, our workplace communication tool. In a simple Teams message, I wrote, "You did a great job leading the huddle and the prayer this morning!" It's safe to say that a "small flame of friendship" has started to kindle!
My Week in Ink—
Another eventful week - feel free to read!
On Tuesdays, I leave work early to be home in time for our cohort meeting calls. After the calls, I try to dedicate the rest of my day to Praxis and spending quality time with my family. Recently, my mom and I have been looking forward to visiting a little local coffee shop that serves incredibly delicious crepes. This past Tuesday, right after my call, we managed to dash over to the coffee shop (just before their closing time!) and indulged in a scrumptious strawberry cheesecake crepe. It was a great way to unwind in the cozy ambiance of the coffee shop while enjoying some heartwarming conversations with my mom. (:
I kicked off the weekend with a trip to a haunted attraction called "Madworld." It's a very popular attraction in my area, and I make it a point to go there every year! The moment we entered the house, I couldn't contain my excitement as I spotted a "Walking Dead" themed setup. Given that it's currently my favorite show, I freaked out a bit!
The clown room became the real highlight of spookiness for me. It was decked out with strobe lights that honestly made me feel a bit queasy. To make things even more spine-tingling, there were dummy clowns hanging from the ceiling, and clowns kept popping out from unexpected corners! Despite the spookiness of the room, one of the clowns challenged me to a game of rock, paper, scissors, and another one jokingly asked if he could have my bulky finger splint!
Once we wrapped up our spooky trail adventure, we decided to take on a round of mini-golf on this worn-down course filled with spooky props. Although it was challenging to play with my broken finger, I still managed to win! As we neared the end of our game, I had to switch to my left hand entirely for putting, and, surprisingly, I made some pretty good scores!
On Sunday, we gathered for our young adult fellowship and game day! Unfortunately, we didn't see the large turnout we had anticipated, but it didn't dampen our spirits – we still had fun! I had brought several games along, but in the end, we settled on playing a few rounds of my all-time favorite, "Telestrations." It never fails to break the ice and fill the room with laughter.
Now, onto Monday (and this is partly why I'm a bit late in submitting my newsletter), my car threw a little maintenance curveball, leading to a night of unexpected adventures and side quests. The issue? A malfunctioning tail light that required a bulb replacement. Eager to get it sorted, I made a quick trip to Walmart right after work to purchase the required bulbs. Once I got home, we began the ambitious project of dismantling my tail light, only to discover that I had picked up the wrong set of bulbs (or so I thought). So, we went off on a new quest to AutoZone to secure the correct set of bulbs and made a pit stop at Walmart to return the wrong ones.
Back at home, we replaced the bulbs, only to find that we'd fixed the blinker, not the brake light. It dawned on us that we had, in fact, originally purchased the correct bulbs! So, back to AutoZone, we went, once again, to purchase the bulbs for the second time and, finally, after several side quests, we successfully fixed my tail light!
What’s Playing on My Radio—
The song of the week is "Trust In God" by Elevation Worship! I stumbled upon this song during my morning commute to work last week. It immediately caught my attention as it began with the words "blessed assurance." This phrase holds a special place in my heart, as "Blessed Assurance" was one of my favorite hymns during my childhood! If you're in need of a few moments of peace this week, I highly recommend giving this song a listen!
The Week Ahead—
In the upcoming week, I have an appointment scheduled at the Hand Center to finally receive a specialized evaluation for my broken finger. It’s been giving me some extra discomfort lately, so I'm looking forward to receiving proper treatment!
On top of that, I'm preparing for a weekend getaway in the mountains! This week is bound to be a bit hectic because I probably won’t have any access to Wi-Fi on my trip. I’ll have to make the most of my weekdays for Praxis and cross my fingers that I complete everything in time for the weekend!
<3 kait